Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of Application
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for separating materials, and more particularly to such an apparatus designed to separate plastic bags in which cans or bottles are stored from the bags themselves when such bags are opened to remove the cans and/or bottles therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
When beverage cans or bottles are collected, they are typically put into plastic bags. These plastic bags are then placed into a truck or the like and transported to a facility for separating and collecting like parts for recycling.
There are machines in the prior art which will accept bags of cans or bottles and then automatically rip the bags open so that the cans or bottles can be conveyed onto a separator or the like. The problem to date has been that while the cans and bottles and various parts thereof can be separated by conventional systems, it has been very difficult, and sometimes impossible, to later automatically remove all of the plastic bags or plastic bag parts from such cans and/or bottles.
Consequently, there is a need for an apparatus which will reliably and economically separate the plastic bags and plastic bag parts from cans or bottles after the bags of cans or bottles have been opened, especially by the automated equipment designed to open such bags of cans or bottles.
The present invention relates to an apparatus for separating cans or bottles from plastic bags and plastic bag parts, including a frame and a perforated drum operably rotatably attached to the frame. The drum has a circular cross section.
A divider member is disposed in the interior of the drum with edges of the divider member being in close proximity to the inside of the drum. A vacuum device is connected to one side of the divider creating a lower pressure section of the drum whereby cans or bottles, plastic bags and plastic bag parts falling onto the rotating drum causes the plastic bags and parts thereof to attach to the exterior of the drum on the lower pressure section thereof while the cans and bottles do not so attach. This allows the plastic bags to be released on the other side of the drum from the pull of the lower pressure as the drum is rotated, by having a low pressure and high pressure side of the drum.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved separator for separating cans or bottles from plastic bags in which such cans or bottles are transported from place to place.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a separator which utilizes a divider and a vacuum device to hold plastic bags against the one side of the drum and a higher pressure side of the drum permitting the plastic bags to fall off and be collected.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a separator of the aforementioned type which uses both the vacuum side and pressure side of a blower to hold plastic bags to one side of a drum by utilizing the vacuum of the blower and using the higher pressure side of the blower to blow plastic bags and plastic bag parts off of such other side of the drum.
Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.